An Unlikely Pair
by Biisaiyowaq
Summary: Unusual pairings, different perspectives on canon pairings, and sometimes cliche, completely normal pairings. First up: Spectra and Bertrand. (Though it's more of a prologue since Bertrand hasn't actually made it into the drabble yet haha)


**Spectra and Bertrand - 1  
**Created: Wednesday July 3, 2013

Edited: Sunday December 29, 2013

Glaring at the scene before her, she felt her hands curl into claws. _How dare they, how _dare _they! After all I did for them! _The mantra repeated itself in her mind, replaying over and over as she watched from the shadows while the humans interacted. Easy smiles, relaxed postures, friendly, casual language...it was unacceptable. Where was the misery? The sadness? The mourning? _Liars!_ She shrieked in her mind, _Where is your compassion?_

The casket had been interred only days earlier, the funeral small and unremarkable, yet these people, who had claimed to care for her and be her friends, they had all forgotten, all left her behind. _Forgotten!_ She half growled half sobbed, letting her emotions override her mind completely. Turning to the usurper, the true cause of her anguish, she flew at the woman, unseen and unheard, face twisted into a feral snarl. _Let me hurt you as you have hurt me,_ she thought.

The redhead never knew what hit her.

The moment of impact was rather anticlimactic. When she reached the girl's body, she found herself slipping into it instead of slamming into it, being sucked into the soul and mind of the human she had inadvertently possessed. Everything was dark, and an ominous black mist filled the entire area, making her unable to gauge exactly how large or small it really was. The only light area was a small circle around her that the mist avoided, and she spun around, trying to find out where exactly in this woman she was. Centering herself in the darkness of the girl's mind, she looked around at the blackness surrounding her.

_Who are you?_ Came the woman's voice, vaguely the ghost registered her as Penelope. _Why are you here?_ Memories of the past week flew through her mind, being pulled to the forefront by her host. _Pain. Violence. The accident. Metal twisting and screeching, shrapnel flying through the air. Anger, so much anger, directed at the one who had taken her place and the people who had pretended, always pretended. No one cared, no one ever did-_

"No!" The desperate spirit yelled, trying to wrest control from Penelope, feeling distantly as the body they inhabited collapsed and hit the floor, faraway yells of concern filtering in through the shadows. _You're weak, I can feel it._ The voice taunted. Fisting her hands into her black, wispy hair, the ghost squeezed her eyes shut and slid to the floor, "No, no! I'm not!" _How could you hope to take me over with such little power? You're fading away as we speak._ Rough, invisible blows rained down on the red eyed shadow, tossing her across the bleak mindscape. _Get out!_ Penelope yelled, her voice coming from everywhere at once, _I will not be destroyed in my own body by a memory!_

Punching the floor, the ghost let out an animalistic scream. "I am not a memory!" She floated upwards a bit, glowing red eyes narrowed and defiant. Reaching out with her own mind, she slashed through the darkness and dragged Penelope towards herself, banishing the shadows between them and giving the area a faint, reddish glow. Orange hair tumbled across the disheveled woman's face and shoulders, her red suit ripped and wrinkled from the rough treatment she had been subjected to, even though it was only psychic. But those eyes...green and equally defiant, she glared back. _I won't let you end me! Not now, not ever!_ Again, the ghost felt unseen blows fall on her from everywhere at once, constricting her and tearing her apart at the same time.

"No!" She ground out, teeth clenched, "Stop!" Throwing her hands out, a green shield appeared around her, cloudy and translucent, and with a final "_Stop!_" it exploded outwards, decimating the girl's attacks.

Penelope took a step back, eyes narrowed.

_You can't kill me if you can't find me abomination._ Shadows sprung into existence between them again, hiding her from view. The ghost looked around.

"I will get you if it takes me an eternity!" She yelled angrily, "You ruined my life!"

_Ruined your life?_ A light laugh echoed through the area, _You're dead. Unimportant. Nothing I have done ever ruined anything for you, everything that happened is on you, I took no part in it. Take your anger somewhere else._ Another primal cry escaped the ghost.

"You stole them from me! Stole their emotions and minds! Made them forget I existed!"

_Is that what this is about?_ Penelope snarled, sending a wave of force at the ghost and knocking her back to the ground, _Being forgotten? Uncared for? Tell me, do you even know who you are?_ Picking herself up off the ground, the ghost glared at her surroundings,

"Shut up!" Hit from behind, the ghost spun around, hands lighting up with more of the transparent green energy. _Of course,_ continued the voice, _I know who you are. I know you name, which is more than you can say._ "Leave me alone!" The ghost hissed, firing random blasts of power into the darkness, watching as they dissipated in the distance, the holes they made being filled back up by the host body's mind. _How can I?_ Penelope replied, suddenly vicious, causing violent winds to pick up and throw the ghost around like a ragdoll, _YOU TRIED TO POSSESS ME. _A crushing force suddenly replaced the winds, falling from above like a giant slab of stone and crushing the ghost into the floor, unable to escape. _I'm going to end you like you tried to end me. Your essence will disappear, fading into the recesses of my mind, unable to reform and do anything other than drift aimlessly here in this place. Unable to hurt anyone. _Ropes, unseen but felt, attached themselves to the ghost's arms and tail, pulling taut and leaving her bound. _Do you fear it? Being pulled apart and unable to form even rudimentary thoughts? Being treated like a _human_? You deserve it. All of your kind do. How many lives have you ruined? How many minds destroyed?_ The ropes pulled tighter, eliciting a cry of pain from the ghost. _Monsters! All of you!_

Gathering her strength, the ghost lighted up her hands once again and sunk her claws into the floor, hoping to weaken Penelope's control over the environment around them. Memories suddenly sprang into existence in her mind, flashing before her eyes quicker than she could properly discern. Loving parents, an annoying sister, an angry pet cat, a school full of other children, photo albums full of a smiling, green eyed, redheaded child. _NO!_ Penelope shrieked, slamming into the ghost again and again in an attempt to dislodge her, _Stay out! Those are mine and mine alone!_ Remembering the mind trick employed by the girl earlier, the ghost twisted her face into a snarl and dug deeper.

"A name," She whispered to herself, trying to sort the memories filling her mind, "Give me a name." The funeral. Penelope would recognize the people there and have memories associated with them. The ghost sent the image of a grumpy, elderly secretary into the flow of thoughts, grabbing for any that were associated with the woman. There! She grasped one of the woman showing Penelope to an office, an achingly familiar space with a desk full of memories. "Mine," The ghost sighed fondly, "It was mine." _Stop! Stop it! GET OUT! _But no matter how Penelope screamed or how hard she rained blows down, the ghost stayed anchored in her mind. In the memory, she could hear the woman, Deborah, familiarizing Penelope with the room, showing her how to open the tricky desk drawer and warning her about the extremely creaky cabinet drawers. Opening them up to show her, the ghost glimpsed a few papers lying in it haphazardly.

"_Oh," _Deborah said quickly, _"We must have forgotten to clean these up, here, let me just get rid of these for you."_ But Penelope reached out and grabbed one of the sheets before they could be taken away,

"_Why the hurry?" _She asked curiously, taking a moment to glance at the school's logo at the top of the page.

"_Nothing, nothing at all. They just belonged to the previous counselor. She, she recently died, and I didn't want to spook you on your first day. Here, let me have it." _Memory Penelope sat down softly on the swiveling chair and looked up at Deborah, quietly handing the paper over,

"_What was her name?" _She asked timidly, wanting to know all the same. Deborah paused, clearly thinking it over for a moment before relenting.

"_Emily. Emily Spectra."_ And with that, she fled the room.

Finally releasing her hold, the ghost flew back, thrown by another of Penelope's attacks.

"Emily. My name is Emily." _Was._ Penelope hissed angrily, _It _was_ Emily. You're dead, you _died, _it's _over._ Let it go, let _me_ go. _The ghost frowned. "You're right." Her admission surprised Penelope, quieting her for a moment and stopping the invisible blows. Reaching out with her mind again and dragging Penelope towards her, she regarded the girl struggling in her shadowy grip. "I'm not Emily. Not anymore."

She grinned darkly, "You can just call me Spectra." Reaching a hand out, she stroked the squirming girl's cheek. "I just realized something." Spectra gestured towards the dark, smoky atmosphere around them. "It's all mine. This is my mind." She tapped the ground beneath her. "_That_ is yours. I accidentally dragged you out of your mind and into my own, didn't I? Such a useful skill, I'll have to remember it. That's why you couldn't stop me from rifling through your memories." Smiling, Spectra swept her hand through the air and sent Penelope flying, still bound by shadowy restraints. "You wanted to destroy me? Take me over? Oh _please_. You don't have the skills to take over a sparrow, let alone me." Bending over, Spectra's smile turned positively wicked, her red eyes fearsome. "Let me show you how it's done."

Black claws ripped into the floor, shredding it and pulling it open, allowing the shadows to flood into it. _No!_ Came Penelope's desperate cry as, finally freed, she slumped to the floor.

"Watch carefully now," Spectra taunted, reaching into the gash and causing the girl to scream in pain, "I'm only going to show you this once after all." Pulling out a fistful of green mist from Penelope's mind, Spectra pulled it towards her face and inhaled happily, feeling it strengthen her. Almost euphorically, Spectra plunged both hands into the hole, pulling out strand after strand of pale green mist, ignoring the girl's cries. When she finally had a ball the size of her head, she reached up and grabbed it, standing as she turned to Penelope's pain-riddled form.

"You see this? These are your memories." She smirked lazily, "But not just any memories." Pulling a strand out, she tossed it at Penelope, watching as it was absorbed, leaving a painful red welt where it touched the human. Images and feelings from when she was humiliated in public by a group of rude girls in middle school filled Penelope's mind. "They're _insecurity_." Spectra tossed another, and this time Penelope was assaulted by memories of when her father died. "_Misery_." A third reached the redhead's convulsing form, and a shriek escaped her as suddenly her arm twisted at an unnatural angle. "_Pain_." Laughing darkly, Spectra bent down in front of the woman, watching as tears and sobs spilled from her. "_My_ kind of memories." Calling the entire ball towards her hand, Spectra held it over Penelope, "Wonderful, aren't they? _Let's share._" Dropping the entire ball on top of the girl and watching as her body twisted and writhed on the floor, she let out a sigh of pleasure. "Perfect." While Penelope's body faded, slowly falling apart, Spectra saw the last of her shadows were sucked into the rip in the girl's mind. "Goodbye Penelope," She glanced around at the collapsing world around them, "Have fun in the void. I'll miss you." And with that, Spectra jumped into the hole herself, sealing it shut behind her.

Back in the physical world, green eyes snapped open and a light laugh escaped from stolen red lips,

"Just a little dizzy, don't worry guys, I'm _fine_."

* * *

Okay, these are just fun little things I'll post every once in a while when I'm bored. They'll either be unusual pairs (like the title suggests) or different views on canon pairings. And sometimes even cliche, normal pairings if I feel like it. They're just drabbles to keep me sane while I work on _Coins_, and, well, every other story I have on here...Dang. I really need to strap down and actually _finish_ one of these...


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